HISTORY OF NEPAL

Nepal is a small country with a little area of 187181 sq km. We can find Nepal is Asia continent and it is really a heaven because we can find every natural beauty. We can say it is a God gifted nation and it is really wonderful to live here. Nepal came to exist long before, we can know this because there is description of Nepal in the holy books of Hindu and we can say that Nepal was existed freely since the ancient time.

The description of human activities, civilization and the events that took place in past with facts and reliable date is called history. It is necessary to study about the different sources to know real history. There are two main sources of history:
1. Primary source: - The description of events of past written systematically and impartially on the basis of eye witness is known as primary source. For example:- Princep and Vensitart , the British national had participated in the war of Anglo Nepal and later on they wrote the book on the basis of events they saw in the war.


2. Secondary source: - The history written on the basis of collection of other sources except eyewitness like chronicles, arts, architecture, etc is called secondary source. For example:- there is no one who saw the rule of Mandev, the Lichchhavi king but we can know about him through the inscription of Changunarayan Temple. The sources of history can be sub classified into three types:-


Written sources Oral sources Art and Architecture
Chronology Folk songs Temples
Biography Birgatha Palaces
Books Stories Dress/utensils
Copper plate Myths Fort
Bhojpatra Interviews Weapons
Travelogue Legends/aankhyan Make up items
Hand writings Buildings
Suwavranapatra
Inscription
Documents
Bills
Diary


The history of Nepal has been prepared on the basis of following sources:
A. Inscription (abhilekh): The stone and copper inscription is found in various temples and places of Nepal. Different historical facts are found in such inscriptions.
B. Manuscript (hastalikhit grantha): Different hand written documents written within and outside Nepal help to know about the history of Nepal.
C. Coins: - The name of ruling dynasty, their ruling period and the social economic condition can be known from the coins.
D. Dress and utensils: - We can easily identify how the background and their life standard of the past people were. Similarly we can know the situation of the time at that time.

Unification campaign of Nepal

Nepal was a scattered and fragmentated kingdom in the past. Different dynasty like Malla, Sen, Shah, and Khas ruled over such kingdoms. There were twenty two kingdoms like Jajarkot, Jumla, Shalayan, etc in Karnali region. These kingdoms were called the Baise Rajya.
There were twenty four kingdoms in the Gandaki region. These kingdoms were called the Chaubise Rajya. Palpa, Lamjung, Syangja, Tanahun, Kaski and Gorkha were the powerful states of the Chaubise Rajya. The Katmandu was divided into three different states like Kantipur, Bhadgaun and Patan. Similarly the eastern Nepal was divided into three kingdoms like Chudandi, Bijayapur and Makwanpur.
The relations among these states were not good and the kings were arrogant and engaged in the war with each other. The number of kingdoms ruled by the kings increased and decreased from time to time. At the same time the British East India Company was conquering India and was planning to occupy Nepal for the extension of their trade with the Tibet. So, the existence of Nepal was in danger. At such a condition Prithivi Narayan Shah started the unification campaign of Nepal. He started the unification campaign with 12000 Gorkhali troops.
First Attack on Nuwakot:-
After the death of Nabhupal Shah on 25th Chaitra, 1799 BS, Prithivi Narayan Shah Became the King of Gorkha. After he became the king of Gorkha he planned to unify Nepal so, he sent his troops to conquer Nuwakot at first. But the Gorkhali troops were defeated badly. At that time Jayanta Malla was the chief of Nuwakot. Jayanta Malla was the commander of Gorkhali troops when the Narbhupal Shah attacked Nuwakot for the first time but Gorkha was defeated and he was accused of guilty and he fled to Kantipur and the king of Kantipur Narbhupal Shah made him the chief of Nuwakot. Nuwakot was the main trade route between Kantipur and Tibet so it was very important from the strategic point of view. At the same time Nuwakot had a fertile land favorable for cultivation. During the second attack on Nuwakot troops of Kiritipur had 50 guns and the Gorkhali had no guns at all. Nuwakot was in top and the Gorkhali troops were not familiar with the geographical condition of Nuwakot. Thus Gorkha was defeated for the second time also.
After the defeat from the Kiritipur for the second time, Prithivi Narayan Shah learned a practical lesson. He realized that victory cannot be achieved only in excitement. Military reforms and weapons were the most to achieve victory. Plenty of wealth was required for the collection of arms and ammunition but Gorkha was financially poor state in comparison with other states. So at that time Prithivi Narayan Shah took the advice of the tailor master Bise Nagarchi and other people of Gorkha. According to their suggestion Prithivi Narayan Shah collected cash and kinds from 12000 houses of Gorkha. All the people of his kingdom helped him as much as they could. Thereafter he went to Banaras as a pretext of pilgrimage but he had gone to collect weapons. He returned from Banaras with lots of weapons, artisan to manufacture arms and Muslim trainers to train the Gorkhali soldiers. As the will of the people he appointed Kalu Pandey as the kaji of Gorkha. He also brought some internal changes in the administration. He made the provision of Mahawat (people to look after the families of soldiers) to encourage soldiers.
During his visit to Banaras he met Hari Shah the king of Jajarkot and did Dharmapatra (deeds of trust) . He also met Mukunda Sen the king of Patan in Butwal while returning from Banaras. He made a good relation with Lamjung because Lamjung was a strong state and could be an obstacle in the unification. He met Ripumardan Sen the king of Lamjung through Kalu Pandey and signed a treaty. According to the treaty Lamjung would remain neutral when Gorkha moves east and Gorkha will support Lamjung when Lamjung attacks the Chaubise Rajays. Similarly, Prithivi Narayan Shah sent his diplomats for relation with Kaki, Tanahun, Palpa, etc. He signed a treaty with Bhaktapur. According to the treaty Bhaktapur should remain neutral when Gorkha attacks Kiritipur and Gorkha would give Shangu and Changu in return to Bhaktapur. He also met Jaya Prakash Malla the king of Kiritipur and signed a treaty. According to the condition in the treaty:-
1. Gorkha and Kiritipur would use each others currency
2. The gold accuquired from the trade with Tibet would be divided between the two nations.
3. Kiritipur would continue the trade with Tibet through Nuwakot.

Thus, Prithivi Narayan Shah secured Gorkha from all the sides and clears the way to start the unification campaign.

Prithivi Narayan shah managed his internal and external affairs with the advice of his elder mother Chandraparwati. He also got help from his people and planned to attack Nuwakot for the third time. On night of 14th Aswin, 1801 B.S (25th September 1744 AD) he disguised his troops as the farmer and stationed them in Nuwakot crossing the Trishuli river. At that time Jayanta Rana, the commander of Nuwakot had gone to Katmandu for military help with Jaya Prakash Malla, the king of Kantipur thinking that Gorkha could not attack Nuwakot did not pay any attention to Jayanta Rana as he was busy observing Indra Jatra. This was the right opportunity for Prithivi Narayan Shah. So he suddenly attacked Nuwakot early in the morning of 15th Asoj, 1801 BS(26 September 1744 AD). At that time Shankamani Rana, the son of Jayanta Rana was the commander in the absence of his father. The Gorkhali soldiers attacked Nuwakot from both Dharampani and Gorkhu river. Shankamani Rana could not face the Gorkhali troops and was killed by Dal Mardan Shah, the brother of Prithivi Narayan shah. Thus Nuwakot was conquered by Gorkha.
Jayanta Rana returned from Katmandu and was staying in his home at Belkot. Prithivi Narayan Shah sent the message to Jayanta Rana to come and side with Gorkha. But he refused to join the Gorkha army. Prithivi Narayan Shah attacked Belkot and conquered it. Jayanta Rana was given death penalty.
Conquest of Nuwakot was the great achievement for Gorkha. Kerung, the trade route between Kantipur and Tibet came into the hands of Gorkha which helped to develop the trade of Gorkha. The fertile land of Nuwakot helped to uplift the economic condition of Gorkha.
After the conquest of Nuwakot, Prithivi Narayan Shah started to conquer eastern parts of Katmandu valley. He conquered Sankhu, Changu, Naldum, Mahadev, and Pokhari to Dholka. Prithivi Narayan Shah gave these areas to Bhaktapur as per the treaty. But Kantipur restored it later on. Ranjit Malla, the king of Bhaktapur became angry with Prithivi Narayan Shah. The Malla kings of Katmandu valley came to know the plan of Prithivi Narayan Shah to attack Katmandu valley. So, Jaya Prakash Malla, the king of Kantipur asked Patan and Bhaktapur for help.
The coalition force of Kantipur, Bhaktapur and Patan was prepared for war with Gorkhali troops. Jaya Prakash Malla took the leadership in the war.
Prithivi Narayan shah was very excited with his victory over Nuwakot. He was eager to conquer Kiritipur. So, on 19th Jestha, 1814 BS (May 1757 AD), the Gorkhali troops attacked Kiritipur. But the Gorkhali troops could not face the joint force of Katmandu valley. Kalu Pandey was killed in the battle. Prithivi Narayan Shah fled to Nuwakot at night and Gorkhali troops were kept in Dahachok while 400 Gorkhali troops were killed in this war.
After this defeat, Prithivi Narayan Shah realized that he had to use diplomacy along with the war to conquer Katmandu valley. So, at first, he adopted the policy to conquer areas surrounding Katmandu valley and impose economic blockade. He prohibited the supply of goods like oil, clothes, salt, etc to enter the valley from outside. It causes economic crisis within the valley. Thus his diplomacy was to unify Nepal.

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The king of Makwanpur, Hemkarna Sen was the father-in-law of Prithivi Narayan Shah. After the death of Hemkarna Sen, his son Digbandhan Sen became the king of Makwanpur. Prithivi Narayan Shah had no good relation with him. When Prithivi Narayan Shah imposed economic blockade over Katmandu valley, Hemkarna Sen supplied the goods to Katmandu valley. So to unify Katmandu valley, it was very necessary to conquer Makwanpur. Makwanpur was in Terai and economically strong. During the wedding ceremony of Prithivi Narayan Shah, he had demanded the naulakha har (necklace of worth nine lakh) and one tusk elephant but Digbandhan Sen denied. Due to which Prithivi Narayan Shah wanted to conquer Makwanpur.
On 9th Bhadra, 1819 BS (1762 AD) Gorkhali troops attacked Makwanpur and conquered it easily. Digbandhan Sen fled to India and asked Mir Kasim, the Nawab of Bengal for help. Mir Kasim sent 25 to 30 hundred troops under the command of Gurgin Khan to support Digbandhan Sen. But they were also defeated by the Gorkhali troops and Makwanpur was easily conquered. Along with Makwanpur, the Gorkhali troops annexed Bara, Parsa, Sarlahi, Mahottari, etc of the Terai and Dhulikhel, Panauti, Nala and Banepa of Katmandu valley.

The life of the people of Katmandu valley became very difficult due to the economic blockade. Gorkha troops attacked Kirtipur on 1821 BS for the second time. Patan and Bhaktapur did not support Kirtipur in this war. Even then, the people of Kirtipur fought bravely and defeated the Gorkha troops. Sur Partap Shah, the brother of Prithivi Narayan Shah was severely injured. Gorkha suffered a heavy loss in this war.
After the death from Kirtipur for second time, Prithivi Narayan Shah adopted the policy of diplomacy to conquer Kirtipur. He conquered Panga, Chovar and surrounding areas of Kiritipur and imposed economic blockade. The condition of the people of Kirtipur became miserable sue to the blockade for six months. There was extreme crisis of food and people started to suffer from hunger. At the same time Prithivi Narayan Shah stopped the water supply to Kirtipur. It became difficult to survive, Kirtipur was compelled to surrender. In 1822 BS Kirtipur was annexed to Gorkha kingdom.
On 13th Aswin, 1825 BS at the time of Indra Jatra, Gorkhali troops attacked Kantipur and conquered it. On 24th of Aswin, 1825 BS Patan also surrendered and came under Gorkha kingdom. On 28th Kartik, 1826 BS, the Gorkha troops stacked Bhaktapur and conquered it on 1st of Mangsir, 1826 BS